It's been quite some time since I've posted anything here. Not that we have not been out fishing, but somehow I just got out of the habit of both taking enough pics from trips as well as taking the time to write things up while they were fresh in mind. With Alex having graduated this year from High School and Max just being a bit older, both have asked that we try to get out to do more fishing. So July 1st isn't really a fast delivery on those requests, but hey we did finally get out. ;)
So we set our alarms for 5am (not as early as we should have as it turns out) with the intent of getting to Lincoln Beach and on the water as quick as we could. Well it took us longer to get on the way and then getting setup took longer than it should have. A bit of our practice for Alex and I, Max is also still in the learning things well enough that he can just get to it on his own without a lot of guidance.
So we were still setting up and almost ready to launch a bit after 7:15am. Everyone was smiles and happy to be there though.
We were unsure how the wind was going to treat us, but as we got there it was nearly non existent (and actually didn't really ever show up until about noon where we had a light wind from the north east).
Alex got going first with Max right after and I followed the two out of the harbor.
I should note that before we launched, a fellow was fishing from the shore on the boat ramp and managed to pick up a couple young white bass. That gave us some hope that we might get some fish action as we worked our way down the channel, but no such luck.
Once we were out of the channel, Alex and Max opted to work the area north west of the channel, and I headed south east. Figured we could see who made the better choice and then adjust.
As I kicked around I managed to snap a few nice pics of the overcast areas and the clouds moved through. Maybe one will end up being a zoom virtual background for me at some point. ;)
I'm not sure when the boys picked up their first bites/fish as we had not really been that chatty on the radios up to that point, but I ended up picking up a very young white bass on a pink curly tail grub that I had added a bit of worm to and was casting and retrieving on one rod while the other was soaking something I hoped would entice a nice catfish. The small white bass got sent back to grow up some more. So for me the worry of a zero trip at least was past.
The carp were out today, though near me they were not schooled up as I've seen before. Instead they were just all over moving around solo with the top of their backs just out of the water. I should have taken a few picks of these as they came up really close to me, including one that bumped into my legs. I ended up throwing out a bobber with a worm just a foot under it wondering if I could pick a carp up for some cutbait. Instead a nicer sized white bass took interest and I now had my first fish in the basket.
I think the boys had each had some action by this point. Alex I believe had at least one fish in his basket and both had had a number of inquiries on their offerings they had been trying. My cell also got a lot of attention (notifications) so ask I took a look to see what was going on I found work was having an issue and I had a couple ideas on how to help. So I ended up on a con call with 2 coworkers helping them get things sorted out and right in the middle of that (both rods I had out at this point were for cats so I could pay attention to the con call) one of the poles had a big hit and something started pulling line out fast. Cell phone was set to speaker phone mode so I just kept going as I started to retrieve whatever was on my line. It ended up being quite the fight and when I was able to weigh and measure it, it turned out to be about 26" and about 6.75lbs which might be the largest cat I've caught to date. I didn't get a photo of this one out on the water, but I did let the boys know and Max was impressed with the size I told them. Phone call was done and things had been sorted out for work, so I started to head toward where the boys were fishing. A few minutes into that trek I had another big hit on a cat pole and big kitty #2 for the day ended up in my basket. This one a touch smaller than the other about 24" and about 6.4lbs. I do have a pic of this one. :)
The boys were excited about my news of a 2nd big cat and caught me up on their progress. Alex had a couple white bass, and a few mud cats in his basket. Max had a nice channel cat in the upper teens of inches in size. So nobody was batting zero for the day. Both had had a few on that got lost on the retrieve. Both were having a good time and working well together (always a good thing).
It was about noon at this point so we talked things over and opted to start heading back in. I don't think anyone had anymore action on the way back in. Alex was in front and Max brought up the rear as we worked back into the channel heading to the ramp.
When we got home we got ready to process the fish. We set them out though first for a couple pictures to sum up the day. :)
We fried up some of the fish for dinner that turned out quite nice. Was really nice to have been able to get out and the weather worked out really well for us!
